Tickle Me Pink
by Val-Creative
Summary: "Don't treat me like a child, Swan."


**.**

**.**

No matter what anyone says or believes, Regina doesn't deserve to die.

Emma splits up with Neil, joining David and Mary Margaret in the loft. They have a way to find Regina's location. She watches as David gets out a vial of Mary Margaret's and Regina's tears, leaving a single drop into Mary Margaret's right eye. She writhes and screams like Mary Margaret is in the worst pain imaginable, shuddering uncontrollably in David's frantic hands.

"Mom!" Emma yells, staring in horror as the other woman cries out about Regina — _Regina _— she's helpless, without her powers — _Regina _— she's being held in place, tied down, abducted, punished and tortured by a faceless man — _Regina _—

"It's so cold, Emma," Mary Margaret sobs, huddling against David who kisses the top of her head. "It… it smells like sardines."

That's it. Regina has to be at the docks. Emma apologizes to her parents, grabbing David's gun as they call for her. She rushes off on her own. Tamara may or may not be involved, but _first _— Emma has her own mission. Retrieving Henry's other mother.

**.**

**.**

Storybrooke Cannery Co. barely gets used nowadays. It's the perfect place to hide.

Emma unholsters her gun, diving into the shadows, rounding corners. Sardine-smell, Mary Margaret was right about that. _Foul_. There's also burnt, overpowering metal and sea-salt in the air. Her nostrils flare. Emma glimpses a tall, bald man walks though a doorway and past an interior window-pane of glass where Regina lays on her back. She's strapped down with her whole body.

He turns a dial. Regina shrieks at the top of her lungs, her face contorting. Emma leaps into action. She shoots the high voltage electric box. It blows to hell. Greg Mendell takes off, startled, and Emma begins to follow him until she looks over at Regina.

"Oh my god," she murmurs, her mouth slick suddenly with bile. Regina's drowning in her own sweat. She's breathing faintly, unmoving, when Emma holsters David's gun and inspects her. She rips off the clamps attached to electrical wires, breathing heavily. Emma's heart races.

Regina is breathing. That's _important_.

An enchanted cuff?

The one that inhibits magic powers?

_… Who the hell is Tamara involved with?_

"Regina, wake up," Emma blurts out. "C'mon." She gently peels off the suction-cup electrodes from Regina's temples, using her nails. The other woman feels clammy-hot to Emma's fingertips. "Hey, _Regina_, look at me—you gotta wake up. It's Henry."

Even mentioning their son doesn't make her rouse to life.

"Shit, shit, shit," Emma breathes, fumbling for her cell-phone and pressing speed-dial. "_Neil_. Neil, listen—"

"If this is about Tamara—"

"_Neil_!" she shouts, near-panicked. Emma can almost feel Neil's astonishment. "I need your help. It's Regina. She's hurt _badly_."

"… Yeah. Of course. I'm on my way. Where are you?"

**.**

**.**

The magic beans are still missing. Someone broke into Regina's office with an override security code. Mother Superior visits the Blanchard loft, removing the enchanted cuff, telling Emma and the rest of them that Regina's power will return bit-by-bit.

Mary Margaret paces behind Emma, fretting and encouraging her daughter to take a bowl of cool water.

"Wipe off her brow," she orders, giving a softened frown.

Emma rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

She waits until Mary Margaret returns to Neil and David before setting down the water bowl and gazing over Regina curiously. She's less stern like this. More human. _Vulnerable_. Prismatic-rainbow beams of sunlight hit Regina's cheek. Emma lets out a huff, rolling up her sleeves and dampening a facecloth, wringing out the excess. She presses it to Regina's forehead.

Without thinking about it, Emma leans in and combs away a strand of dark brown hair, her fingers stroking lightly Regina's bare skin. She's not clammy.

Regina stirs, her eyelids fluttering open. Her cheeks flushed, tickled pink.

"Were you gonna sleep all day?" Emma quips, trying to ease the awkwardness.

The other woman doesn't answer her. Regina finds herself in quilts and padded, hand-sewn pillows, groaning to sit up.

_"Henry… I need to see him…"_

"Nuh uh, you're recovering," Emma says, not taking an argument about it. She clasps onto Regina's shoulders, witnessing a gleam of ferocity in dark, memorizing eyes. Thank goodness. "He's alright, I promise. Granny is doing the babysitting."

"Don't treat me like a child, Swan."

"Then don't act like one," Emma replies, mocking a bright, sunny smile.

Regina tries to glare her down, weakened and trembling slightly. She instead flops back and turns her head away. Emma has seen that before. Henry wanted to stay up for video games on Monday night, and when Emma refused to let him stay up past his bedtime, he laid in his bed, flopping down and turning his head away from Emma until she hugged him goodnight.

"You don't have to thank me for _saving_ _you_. I'm just glad you're okay."

Emma squeezes her forearm. hesitating when Regina's hand slides over hers, holding on tightly. Regina's jaw clenches. Her dark eyes moist, blinking rapidly. A lick of warmth sends up Emma's belly. She sits with Regina, letting her hold on.

For as long as Regina needs her.

**.**

**.**


End file.
